Discover the secrets behind how this Australian business used an IT Strategy to scale and grow

Established in 2004, DUAL Australia Pty Ltd is a specialist underwriting agency providing innovative insurance solutions for small to medium enterprise. DUAL specialises in accident and health, financial lines, general liability, and marine insurances. The agency also underwrites exclusively on behalf of Lloyd's, a name synonymous with insurance which has an S&P rating of A+ since the late seventeenth century.

DUAL has implemented an online trading platform enabling brokers to obtain instant quotations and bindings 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It is regularly used by over 650 broking houses across Australia and resulted in more than 30,000 policies being transacted every year. Employing more than 80 people DUAL, has four offices across Australia in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane.

The Business Need for DUAL Australia

The SME Team within DUAL work with brokers on a day-to-day basis on new business opportunities. Prior to January 2016, a review of their current processes highlighted areas which could be improved, particularly the recording of phone conversations, email, and meetings with brokers. They required a more comprehensive reporting method and the implementation of an efficient workflow tool.

DUAL Australia’s Key Challenges

A number of issues had to be addressed such as:

• The ability to record and track activities done by the SME Team to realise new business opportunities
• A more efficient means of updating business opportunities recorded in Excel spreadsheets and MS Access
• The lack of a centralised database containing information about all the brokers the SME Team worked with

A Workflow Strategy Solution

Lanrex was already engaged by DUAL to provide its IT services and were consulted by Frances Land, the SME Team Leader for a possible solution to address DUAL’s revised operating requirements.

To ensure Lanrex had a thorough understanding of the important issues and requirements, DUAL’s SME team worked closely with Lanrex during the implementation, testing, and quality assurance phases.

Lanrex proposed the use of Microsoft Dynamics to help the SME Team, who needed a workflow strategy tool.

Of the services provided by Lanrex, SME Team Leader Frances Land points out:

“It is a fantastic system which meets our needs and Lanrex has provided a great response to any changes we required.”

The SME Team is now able to—

• Store and access all information about its broker firms, broker contacts, and opportunities from a centralised database
• Help managers seamlessly assign and manage opportunities
• Track and view the progress of business opportunities online using the Dynamics dashboard and via various reports
• Record their own activities using a simple interface, which also enables them to monitor their own performance.

 

Key Outcomes & Results

Microsoft Dynamics is integrated with DUAL’s online quoting system which provides the opportunities for the SME Team to then work with the relevant brokers and track any subsequent activities.

The solution was implemented in January 2016 and was proven to have the flexibility required to meet the needs and expectations of DUAL. The big win has been in DUAL’s new ability to establish effective workflows for the SME Team to increase their efficiency and improve their results.

The interaction with Office 365 has provided substantial integration of tasks, eliminating double handling and reducing operational errors.The Dynamics dashboard with features open to all users has also stimulated healthy competition among the team members.

Frances Land complimented Lanrex on their professionalism.

“Lanrex has a really good positive attitude. They are helpful and never short of a recommendation. We do insurance, not IT, and Lanrex has a very high level of expertise.”

The Future for Dual Australia

There’s more to come from Lanrex and Dual Australia’s partnership. Lanrex is working on a number of projects with DUAL Australia to enhance and improve not only their IT but to expand this with their overall business strategy.